Chennai: Actor Dhanush-produced Tamil thriller “Visaaranai” will be first film in the language to have its world premiere in the competition section of the upcoming at 72nd Venice worldwide Film Festival.

Another film on the list includes Drake Doremus’ futuristic Equals with Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult.

“The program is very varied”, festival artistic director Alberto Barbera told reporters, according to Reuters.

Out-of-competition entries – which are not in the running for festival prizes but could be Academy Awards contenders – include Scott Cooper’s “Black Mass“, starring Depp as Boston gangster Whitey Bulger, and Thomas McCarthy’s “Spotlight“, which features Michael Keaton as the editor of a Boston Globe team investigating clerical sex abuse.

Martin Scorsese’s short film “The Audition” with Robert de Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, is also included.

Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron, known for “Gravity”, will head the jury, which includes Hollywood actresses Elizabeth Banks and Diane Kruger.

The Danish Girl, Beasts of No Nation and Black Mass will also be screened at the Toronto global Film Festival in Canada in September (15).